To: Lori Lightfoot, Mayor-Elect, Chicago
Reject the Chicago police union's white supremacist ties
I'm joining Workers Center for Racial Justice in calling on Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot to negotiate an equitable police union contract that protects the safety, justice and liberation of all Chicagoans. We demand that the incoming mayor refuse to negotiate with the Fraternal Order of Police until it publicly and strongly rejects the white supremacist groups that have attended their rallies and made common cause with them. Any subsequent contract must include common-sense reforms to increase accountability for police officers who've been accused of violating the public trust by abusing their power.
Why is this important?
Last month, the same lawless white nationalist and white supremacist groups that stoked violence in Charlottesville attended rallies organized by Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).
Chicago's police union has found common cause with racist groups including the Proud Boys, American Identity Movement, and the American Guard. They are all stoking anger and division by using District Attorney Kim Foxx's handling of the Jussie Smollett case.
For the Fraternal Order of Police, it's an opportunity to attack one of their most strident critics and weaken her agenda of criminal justice reform. For the white supremacist groups, the FOP's rallies and over-the-top rhetoric provided the perfect backdrop for them to win new recruits over to their twisted, hateful ideology.
The FOP protest offered sanctuary to extremist organizations, allowing members to emerge from the shadows of the Internet and establish the legitimacy and public visibility required to grow their ranks of domestic terrorists. By welcoming white nationalist leaders into their assembled fold, the police union signaled its tacit approval of their dangerous agenda of hatred and violence.
But despite widespread reporting on extremist groups' participation in the recent police union rally, FOP head Kevin Graham has refused to publicly denounce the organizations and the viewpoints they espouse.
So long as the FOP refuses to denounce the white nationalist groups they gave aid and comfort to, the City of Chicago must not deal with them like a legitimate organization.
The FOP is attempting to negotiate a new contract with the city of Chicago. Please join us in calling on Lori Lightfoot, Chicago's newly elected mayor, to not negotiate any new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police until they have publicly denounced the Proud Boys and the other "alt-white" groups benefiting from the FOP's anti-reform stance. And any new contract must include key reforms that make police officers more accountable to the public when they abuse their power.
Chicago's police union has found common cause with racist groups including the Proud Boys, American Identity Movement, and the American Guard. They are all stoking anger and division by using District Attorney Kim Foxx's handling of the Jussie Smollett case.
For the Fraternal Order of Police, it's an opportunity to attack one of their most strident critics and weaken her agenda of criminal justice reform. For the white supremacist groups, the FOP's rallies and over-the-top rhetoric provided the perfect backdrop for them to win new recruits over to their twisted, hateful ideology.
The FOP protest offered sanctuary to extremist organizations, allowing members to emerge from the shadows of the Internet and establish the legitimacy and public visibility required to grow their ranks of domestic terrorists. By welcoming white nationalist leaders into their assembled fold, the police union signaled its tacit approval of their dangerous agenda of hatred and violence.
But despite widespread reporting on extremist groups' participation in the recent police union rally, FOP head Kevin Graham has refused to publicly denounce the organizations and the viewpoints they espouse.
So long as the FOP refuses to denounce the white nationalist groups they gave aid and comfort to, the City of Chicago must not deal with them like a legitimate organization.
The FOP is attempting to negotiate a new contract with the city of Chicago. Please join us in calling on Lori Lightfoot, Chicago's newly elected mayor, to not negotiate any new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police until they have publicly denounced the Proud Boys and the other "alt-white" groups benefiting from the FOP's anti-reform stance. And any new contract must include key reforms that make police officers more accountable to the public when they abuse their power.